The iDOLM@STER Movie: Kagayaki no Mukougawa e!

From what I've seen of the iDOLM@STER anime series so far I quite like the whole series overall. The TV series was generally a fun watch and this movie basically feels like more of the show. While I liked this overall, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was kinda lackluster. And I'll keep this spoiler-free as can be.

The movie starts off pretty well introducing us to the girls following the end of the show. They're all accomplished, experienced, and established idols to the point where they're basically superstars landing all sorts of big gigs. The beginning of this movie has everyone unite once ... again to prep for a huge gig the producer lands them and that first 40 minutes or so until time for the ending performance was this series doing what I feel it does best, and that's being casual.

iDOLM@STER hasn't necessarily been great when it comes to being dramatic, but it's had some situations that were handled better than others. And the entire movie past that first 40 minutes until that last performance has everyone suddenly hit with two big cases: Producer revealing bad news to the 765 girls and then 765 being tossed into the turmoil of another group's struggles. I actually think Producer has earned the right to act as a plot device in this final showing of the 765 branch of the iDOLM@STER series as he's been developed into a notable figure through the anime who keeps the girls afloat as idols as well as striving to do a good job in his role for everyone else's sake opposed to his cookie cutter portrayal in the games. But then the main issue with this movie lies in that other group I mentioned. I didn't really mind their presence per se, but they introduce a degree of tension that you could say isn't enough to carry basically an entire movie on it's own, and then it's not entirely something we hadn't seen already.

Now onto the second group. They kinda squander the potential screentime members of 765 could've gotten because they're given a bit too much focus IMO. I actually like their inclusion in general because I thought we'd be getting some kind of passing a torch kinda moment with 765 to them, but we're thrown too deep into their issues and it affects everyone because a good part of the movie becomes more about them than 765. Don't forget, 765 already consists of 14 main members (15 if you count Kotori), so it doesn't help that they added 7 more people for them to share a screen with so a lot of characters still get screen time but their presence is subdued. I was definitely disappointed that the majority of the 765 girls didn't really have any individual moments to look back on.

Of everyone thrown into the shuffle here, Haruka gets elevated as she's put in an important role that sees her bearing the most responsibility on behalf of everyone, so if you're a fan of her or like her you'll be pleased there just as I was. It felt like an appropriate role for her because it challenges her to make decisions for problems that other members would've either had less difficulty dealing with or couldn't have done so with the same degree of tact. I also liked her interactions with another member of the other group as Haruka is seen as a role model for her but the two are very similar in many ways.

When it comes to general aspects such as animation and music this movie does just as well in those areas as it did in the show. Guess my only small complaint for music would be the execution as I would've liked it if there were more moments where entire songs were performed rather than used for brief transitions.

Overall I'd say I liked this movie, and if you were a fan of the main show or the series in general you'll probably be content with this. It does unfortunately have a lot of the same issues as the show though. The drama is…considerably typical for an idol series and it felt more like a side story for the show than a plot to carry a movie that would've been better served as a farewell for 765 given this is the last main anime entry. Wouldn't say this is a must watch entry, but it's a decent conclusion to their story even if it isn't actually satisfyingly conclusive enough.

The latest (and perhaps final) animated offering in the Idolmaster franchise is a somewhat enjoyable, though equally forgettable ride that unfortunately falls into the same trappings as the original series. If you were looking for cute idols doing cute things... well, you will likely fall asleep halfway through.

The problem with the Idolmaster movie is that it doesn't quite understand what makes the franchise exciting to so many people. It's well-produced, the characters are fun and unique, the music is great-- exactly what any fan of the games would want-- but as soon as it starts to reach a high point, it just pops like ... a balloon, replaced instead with mundane, boring drama that will send you into an hour-long yawning session. Even worse, the drama here is focused on a new group of idols rather than the main characters, so there's even less reason for anyone (save for perhaps the most zealous of fans) to care about anything that occurs in the movie's latter half. At least the girl with the side ponytail is cute, I suppose... ?

It's a shame, because the first forty minutes are a ton of fun. As the girls are now all accomplished idols (famous enough to have their own television station or to throw the ceremonial pitch in a professional baseball game), the constant battle to keep 765 Productions afloat is largely a thing of the past, and the girls are now able to simply relax and be themselves for a change. And so they do, joking with each other, participating in silly commercials and occasionally hitting on our ol' pal, the Producer. It's fun. It's cute. Idolmaster is at its best when it doesn't take itself seriously and focuses instead on the positive aspects of the girls, rather than their daddy issues or their ability to scream at one another. As a cute slice-of-life, Idolmaster is excellent, but as a drama, it is trite, boring twaddle that you could find for sale at the dollar store. And unfortunately the movie decides to take the latter approach.

That's not to say that the drama in Idolmaster is offensively bad, but it certainly does not offer anything new or interesting for the series. If you have watched even one idol anime before, you've probably experienced everything that the movie's dramatic portions have to offer. Girls struggle to practice in time for the deadline, they have arguments with one another, one threatens to leave the group-- you know how the story goes. It would be a little more interesting if the drama developed one or more of the characters by showing a more complex side to their personality, but nothing of the sort ever happens. The movie isn't even about the main cast in the first place. It's about the B Team. This may have worked if it was in the context of a second season, but developing seven new idols on-top of the main twelve (and then there's still the Producer, and Ritsuko, and...) in a two hour movie is simply impossible. The movie was not their time and place to shine.

If you're a fan of Haruka, though, you will find plenty to enjoy here since she is elevated to the role of protagonist, albeit at the cost of all the other idols. She serves as a role-model and a mentor to the other group, encouraging them and helping to resolve their issues. It's a nice change from the main TV series where she was always the underdog, the motivated but naive idol, and it shows that the characters are indeed maturing as time passes.

The Producer is also a surprisingly positive presence in the story, just as he was in the main series. The idea of giving the blank Producer from the games a face and a personality was controversial to some because it hinted towards the possibility of another boring, oblivious harem protagonist (hello, Infinite Stratos), but that has never been the case here. He is a genuine character in his own right, as important to the story as any of the idols. He's inexperienced at his job, yes, but his passion is real and it makes sense why the girls would feel attached to him. With his plan to leave Japan temporarily in order to study, he shows that he's willing to change and improve, that he's not content simply being the same person for eternity. The Producer is an honestly dynamic, three-dimensional character and the anime would not be anywhere near as exciting had he simply been a blank face like he was in the games.

The music in the Idolmaster movie is outstanding, perhaps even the greatest part of the entire experience, though that should not come as any surprise. There's the occasional montage with one of Idolmaster's iconic songs playing in the background, though it never breaks the pacing as it did in the case of something like A-Channel (... does anyone even remember that show exists?) The performances themselves are excellent and by far some of the best the idol genre has ever seen, although there are just too few of them. It might even be worth watching the movie solely for the five-minute performance at the end. If nothing else, Idolmaster has shown that it's still the leader of the idol genre with regards to music.

The animation also bears a mention for how natural and fluid it feels. There's a few short scenes that are even rotoscoped (and no, not the kind of rotoscoping found in Aku no Hana) which look incredibly lifelike. And whereas most idol anime opt to resort to CG when animating their performances, Idolmaster is drawn almost fully by hand. It's certainly a good looking anime- at least when it matters the most.

Should you watch the Idolmaster movie? If you are desperately craving for more of the characters and don't mind sitting through an hour of boredom, sure. But do keep in mind that the amount of screen-time for any non-Haruka or B-Team idol is pretty much nil. If you're the type of person who watches Idolmaster primarily or even solely to see one or two of your favourite idols (and provided that idol isn't Haruka), there really isn't a whole lot to look forward to here. There's no Mami, Ami, Takane, Makoto, Chihaya-- just a few scenes of them sitting mindlessly in the background with the occasional line of dialogue of every now and then. The movie is barely even a story about 765 Productions, anyway.

It's a nice sleeping aid, but if you're looking for a better idol anime, Aikatsu and Love Live 2 are duly recommended.

I absolutely love love love idolmaster, but this movie is really bad. I have to give it credit, it is bad in a way where you will be very invested and be yelling at the screen. But yes, this movie is bad to the point that I have no idea that they didn’t realize that it was a bad idea. Basically, the plot revolves around 7 new characters who are introduced as backup dancers for the classic original 13 imas characters. The drama is that, well, the backup dancers can’t dance. So they just sulk around cause they aren’t getting any better and they’re disappointing ... everyone. One of these backup dancers is particularly mean and is always getting onto the others for how bad they are at dancing, even though she can’t dance either. Another of the backup dancers is so affected by the mean one that she quits. (Honestly I don’t know why they don’t all quit or get fired since they can’t do the only thing they were hired to do.) And then everyone has to go and convince her to come back and try again. After that, (when there is 5 minutes left in the movie) the dancers finally get it together apparently and all is well.

So yes, the main conflict has nothing to do with the characters who are actually on the movie poster and who you would assume that it’s about. Now this on its own isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the characters it does revolve around are just going around being terrible at their jobs and fighting all the time. These backup dancer characters would go on to become Idolmaster Million Live, and I have no clue how the writers of this movie thought that this would be a good introduction to them. The original 13 characters are barely in the movie, Haruka plays mediator between the fighting dancers but doesn’t do much else. And then the others all just have one or two lines throughout the whole thing. Interestingly, Chihaya (who has a very bad relationship with her family) has a line where she says that she’s going to reach out to her mom and invite her to their concert. We see her put the letter in the mail, and then it never gets followed up on. They never show if her mom responded or if she came to the concert or what. I have no idea why they put this in here? Did they just forget they did or what?

Now onto a positive, the music is amazing. And I think it might have something to do with the fact that the music sequences for the most part don’t include the dancer characters. But the soundtrack is great and the little music video type things are fun. NOW HOWEVER, the final musical number, Masterpiece. It’s a great song, no doubt. An iconic idolmaster song that always makes me a little bit emotional. But, in the scene where they are finally performing the big concert and they sing this song, we get to see the backup dancers dance. And….they just clap. Their dance is just clapping to the beat. I was so mad lollllll. The entire drama was how they just could not dance and they just could not improve….and all they had to do was clap on beat??!?! I absolutely cannot fathom why they didn’t give them a complex and impressive dance when it was literally the entire point of the movie. They’re getting outdanced by the original 13 characters (or I guess 12 cause Ritsuko isn’t on stage) and they at no point in the story had any trouble with dancing.

This movie is so bizarre…I can’t even begin to comprehend how none of the people working on it noticed the giant faults.